第38章 "Down Brakes"(3)

"I beg pardon,but the parlor is full of company,and that fool of a Joe came roaring in with a cock-and-bull story that gave me quite a turn.What is it,Mr.Frank?"she asked eagerly,seeing that something was amiss.

He told her in a few words,and she was much relieved to find that no harm had been done.

"Ah,the danger is to come,"said Frank,darkly,as be went away to wash his hands and prepare to relate his misdeeds.

It was a very bad quarter of an hour for the poor fellow,who so seldom had any grave faults to confess;but he did it manfully,and his mother was so grateful for the safety of her boy that she found it difficult to be severe enough,and contented herself with forbidding any more visits to the too charming No.11.

"What do you suppose will be done to me?"asked Frank,on whom the idea of imprisonment had made a deep impression.

"I don't know,dear,but I shall go over to see Mr.Burton right after tea.He will tell us what to do and what to expect.Gus must not suffer for your fault.""He'll come off clear enough,but Joe must take his share,for if he hadn't opened that confounded switch,no harm would have been done.But when I saw the way clear,I actually couldn't resist going ahead,"said Frank,getting excited again at the memory of that blissful moment when he started the engine.

Here Jack came hurrying in,having heard the news,and refused to believe it from any lips but Frank's.When he could no longer doubt,he was so much impressed with the daring of the deed that he had nothing but admiration for his brother,till a sudden thought made him clap his hands and exclaim exultingly,"His runaway beats mine all hollow,and now he can't crow over me!Won't that be a comfort?The good boy has got into a scrape.

Hooray!"

This was such a droll way of taking it,that they had to laugh;and Frank took his humiliation so meekly that Jack soon fell to comforting him,instead of crowing over him.

Jill thought it a most interesting event;and,when Frank and his mother went over to consult Mr.Burton,she and Jack planned out for the dear culprit a dramatic trial which would have convulsed the soberest of judges.His sentence was ten years'imprisonment,and such heavy fines that the family would have been reduced to beggary but for the sums made by Jill's fancy work and Jack's success as a champion pedestrian.

They found such comfort and amusement in this sensational programme that they were rather disappointed when Frank returned,reporting that a fine would probably be all the penalty exacted,as no harm had been done,and he and Gus were such respectable boys.What would happen to Joe,he could not tell,but he thought a good whipping ought to be added to his share.

Of course,the affair made a stir in the little world of children;and when Frank went to school,feeling that his character for good behavior was forever damaged,he found himself a lion,and was in danger of being spoiled by the admiration of his comrades,who pointed him out with pride as "the fellow who ran off with a steam-engine."But an interview with Judge Kemble,a fine of twenty-five dollars,and lectures from all the grown people of his acquaintance,prevented him from regarding his escapade as a feat to boast of.

He discovered,also,how fickle a thing is public favor,for very soon those who had praised began to tease,and it took all his courage,patience,and pride to carry him through the next week or two.The lads were never tired of alluding to No.11,giving shrill whistles in his ear,asking if his watch was right,and drawing locomotives on the blackboard whenever they got a chance.

The girls,too,had sly nods and smiles,hints and jokes of a milder sort,which made him color and fume,and once lose his dignity entirely.Molly Loo,who dearly loved to torment the big boys,and dared attack even solemn Frank,left one of Boo's old tin trains on the door-step,directed to "Conductor Minot,"who,I regret to say,could not refrain from kicking it into the Street,and slamming the door with a bang that shook the house.Shrieks of laughter from wicked Molly and her coadjutor,Grif,greeted this explosion of wrath,which did no good,however,for half an hour later the same cars,all in a heap,were on the steps again,with two headless dolls tumbling out of the cab,and the dilapidated engine labelled,"No.11 after the collision."

No one ever saw that ruin again,and for days Frank was utterly unconscious of Molly's existence,as propriety forbade his having it out with her as he had with Grif.Then Annette made peace between them,and the approach of the Twenty-second gave the wags something else to think of.

But it was long before Frank forgot that costly prank;for he was a thoughtful boy,who honestly wanted to be good;so he remembered this episode humbly,and whenever he felt the approach of temptation he made the strong will master it,saying to himself "Down brakes!"thus saving the precious freight he carried from many of the accidents which befall us when we try to run our trains without orders,and so often wreck ourselves as well as others.